Integrally woven zipper stringer



Nov. 8, 1966 J. E. BURBANK 3,283,379

INwGRALLY WOVEN ZIPPER STRINGER Filed March 29, 1965 United States Patent 3,283,379 INTEGRALLY WOVEN ZIPPER STRINGER John E. Burbank, Middlebury, Coun., assignor to Scovrll Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conu., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Mar. 29, 1965, Ser. No. 443,265 3 Claims. (Cl. 24205.1)

This invention relates to stringers for zipper fasteners and more particularly to an integral structure including a flat tape, the fastener coil and a protective cover for the coil.

In the past, a number of attempts have been made to produce an item of this kind. Some are obviously impractical and others are unsatisfactory, principally because the filler thread must hold together the entire construction. This is a serious disadvantage because it exposes the most important thread to the slider and because the protective cover will pull away under tension, and change its shape so that it no longer fits easily in the slider.

In accordance with this invention, the filler thread of the flat tape is used to hold the coil against the edges of the tape and it is ideally suited for this purpose. Then, the auxiliary material forming a protective cover and the track on which the slider rides is held by a separate vertical or transverse weft. This produces a superior fastener because:

(1) The fastener will not go badly out of shape under lateral stress;

(2) The threads which are stressed by lateral pull on the fastener are not exposed to the rubbing action of the slider;

(3) The threads comprising the covering material are not such a vital part of the structure that damage to some of them might cause failure of the fastener.

A subsidiary object is to produce a unitary structure in which the secondary material providing the protective cover can be varied in appearance by merely changing the kind, size or amount of such secondary materials which are independent of the flat part of the tape.

Another object is to weave in and securely lock in place a sufficient amount of longitudinal threads or warps, over as well as under the coil, to prevent stretching lengthwise or displacement of the coils along the fastener.

In the accompanying drawing, I have shown for purpose of illustration, one embodiment of my invention. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a small scale view of a zipper employing my invention;

FIG. 2 is a detail in perspective illustrating my improved unitary structure;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section through my improved zipper stringer;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section on line 44 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration in cross-section to indicate how my improved structure may be made.

The zipper illustrated in FIG. 1 has a pair of flat tapes 6 and 7 with fastener coils 8 and 9 arranged along their adjacent edges. The particular shape of these fastener coils forms no part of the present invention and it is only necessary to say that they consist of successive convolutrons spaced so as to receive portions of the mating coil.

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The flat tape is made up of any desired number of parallel warp threads 10 and a continuous filler thread 11 interwoven therewith. The fastener coil, designated 8 in FIG. 3, is held to the fiat tape by portions 12 of the filler thread 11 engaging between successive coil convolutions. Although the invention is adaptable to coils in which no cord is included, there is indicated in the present case, a pair of cords 13 and of course, the holding portions 12 of the filler thread 11 are looped around these cords.

The structure of the covering means can perhaps best be understood by FIG. 5 indicating how it can be made. A plurality of auxiliary warps 14 on one side of the tape and another set 15 on the opposite side of the tape are arranged to be shedded in a vertical plane so as to receive a vertical weft thread 16. The vertical weft needle 17 will first pass through the shed formed by the warps 14 and 15 and alternately swing over to some such position as indicated in dotted lines to carry the weft thread 16 around the cords 13 and between the coil convolutions to intersect the loop L of the weft threads 16 which had just previously been formed by the vertical passage of the needle 17. These alternate loops of the weft thread 16 can be interengaged by means of a knitting needle or by any mechanism to form a chain stitch at this point. This chain stitch is best indicated in FIG. 4 by the letter C.

It will be noted, especially in FIG. 3, that one of the warp threads 14:: above the flat tape and another 15a below the tape, are preferably larger than the other warps 14 or 15 so as to form more substantial corners or shoulders at these points to make a better track for the slider. This slider, as seen only in FIG. 1, is designated by the numeral 18. As well understood in the art, such a slider has a Y-shaped channel which fits around a pair of stringers to engage or disengage the fastener coils. In this case, of course, the slider embraces not only the coils 8 and 9, but also the protective covering means.

What I claim is:

1. An integrally woven zipper stringer having a flat tape consisting of a filler thread interwoven with a plurality of warp threads, a fastener coil along one edge of the tape and held to the tape by portions of said filler thread engaged between successive coil convolutions, auxiliary warps disposed against said coil, and a separate weft thread for tieing said auxiliary wanps to said coil.

2. An integrally woven zipper stringer having a flat tape consisting of a filler thread interwoven with a plurality of warp threads, a fastener coil along one edge of the tape and held to the tape by portions of said filler thread engaged between successive coil convolutions; and protective covering means comprising a plurality of auxiliary warps disposed in parallel fashion around said coil, and an auxiliary weft thread interwoven with said auxiliary warps, with said coil and with said flat tape.

3. An integrally woven zipper stringer as defined in claim 2 wherein said auxiliary weft thread extends alternately between the said warps on the outside of said coil and through said coil, said alternating portions of said auxiliary weft being interlaced to form a unitary structure.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,567,160 9/1951 Wahl. 3,058,188 10/1962 Yoshida.

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN INTEGRALLY WOVEN ZIPPER STRINGER HAVING A FLAT TAPE CONNSISTING OF A FILLER THREAD INTERWOVENN WITH A PLURALITY OF WARP THREADS, A FASTENER COIL ALONG ONE EDGE OF THE TAPE AND HELD TO THE TAPE BY PORTIONS OF SAID FILLER THREAD ENGAGED BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE COIL CONVOLUTIONS, AUXILIARY WARPS DISPOSED AGAINST SAID COIL, AND A SEPARATE WEFT THREAD FOR YIEING SAID AUXILIARY WARPS TO SAID COIL. 